Smartphone apps set to surpass the 1 million mark next week

The number of apps available on four of the top smartphone platforms is set to surpass the one million mark within the coming days, a new report by app tracking and analytics company Mobilewalla reveals.

Mobilewalla puts the total app count between Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones at 989,476, seeing an average of 2,000 applications enter the mobile marketplace each day.

The app discovery engine charted the rise of Apple’s App Store over the past 12 months, noting that iOS apps grew from 338,000 to 589,148 apps. Android applications also grew at a similar rate, increasing from 115,000 to 319,774. However, it’s interesting to note that the mobile app tracker doesn’t chart Symbian applications, although finding an up-to-date figure has proven to be impossible.

If Symbian was to be included, there would be well over a million applications available on smartphone devices.

However, Mobilewalla breaks down the four mobile marketplaces:

Apple – 590,138 (59.95%)

Android – 320,315 (32.54%)

BlackBerry – 43, 544 (4.42%)

Windows – 35, 479 (3.60%)

Although applications were available for Java-enabled mobile phones prior to the emergence of the smartphone, it was the launch of the App Store in July 2008 that helped bring dedicated smartphone apps to market.

In just three and a half years, the apps marketplace has boomed, helping to make developers and design studios multi-millionaires (and in some cases billionaires) including Rovio (Angry Birds), Tapulous (Tap Tap Revenge) and gaming giant EA.

Matt is based near London and is the News Editor for The Next Web. You can follow him on Twitter, subscribe to his updates on Facebook and catch up with him on Google+. You can reach Matt via email at matt@thenextweb.com.